Mixer taps

ABSTRACT

A mixer tap in which the body has a chamber at the rear of the body and which is separate from water passageways passing through the body, the chamber being provided to receive a support element of a plug actuating mechanism and having an opening to the outside of the body for the insertion of the support element.

o Umted States Patent 1 [111 3,744,519 Parsons [451 July 10, 1973 [54] MIXER TAPS 2,980,140 4/196] McMillan 137/ 607 X I 454 171 D ..l7606X 1 Inventor: Berna"! Pam", walsau 213381268 21369 l 37/606 England v [73] Assignee: IMI Developments Limited, FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Blrmmgham, England 794,928 5/1958 Great Britain .1 4/192 [22] Filed: July 26, 1971 I [21] Appl. No.: 165,935 Primary Examiner- Robert G. Nilson Attorney-Cushman, Darby & Cushman [30] Foreign Application Priority Data July 28, 1970 Great Britain 36,506/70 June 17, I971 Great Britain 28,466/71 [57] ABSTRACT [52] L8. CI. 137/801 A mixer tap in which the body has a chamber at the [51] Ilit. CL... Fl6k 19/00 rea of the body and which is separate from water pas- [58] FleId of Search; 137/606, 607, 801; sageways passing through the body, the chamber being 192, 194 provided to receive a support element of a plug actuating mechanism and having an opening to the outside of [56] Refe e Clted the body for the insertion of the support element.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures MIXER TAPS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION manufacture of sand cast mixer taps, a boss forming part of a partition which separates the hot and cold outlet passages of the tap is provided for the passage therethrough of a hole which receives the one end of the plug actuating mechanism. Manufacturing disadvantages are expected to be found in the manufacture of mixer taps having side-by-side outlet passages for hot and cold water in an outlet spout when such taps are made by hot stamping techniques or of plastics materials. These disadvantages are that the whole of the partition rib separating these passages would either need to be thicker than is otherwise desirable so as to accept the hole for the plug actuating mechanism or alternatively, if a boss were provided on the ribs, this would complicate the mould core construction.

' SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention a mixer tap body comprises a main body member, two spaced-apart tail pipes extending from the main body member, and an outlet spout extending forwardly at a front part of the main body member, the outlet spout having at least one fluid flow outlet passage and the main body member having a chamber at the rear part of the main body member for receiving a support element for a plug actuating mechanism, the chamber being separate from fluid flow passages of the main body member and having an opening to the outside of the main body member for the insertion within the chamber to said support element.

According to the invention also, a mixer tap body comprises a main body member, two spaced apart tail pipes extending from the main body member, and an outlet spout extending forwardly at a front part of the main body member, the outlet spout having at least one fluid flow outlet passage and the main body member having a chamber at the rear part of the'main body member, the chamber being separate from the fluid flow passages of the main body member andhaving an opening to the outside of the main body member, and the chamber containing a'support element for a plug actuating mechanism which has been inserted within the chamber through the opening.

Preferably the main body member is formed with at least one aperture between the fluid flow passages and the chamber and a closure member extends across and fluid-tightly seals the aperture. This assists with the manufacture of the body particularly in the case where the opening, the aperture and theoutlet passage of the outlet spout are all in alignment as it enables a single core to be usedduring moulding of the tap for the purpose of forming the outlet passage, aperture andopening and this core may be removed through the-opening.

If the closure member and the tap are made from the plastics material, then conveniently the closure member is welded to a surface or surfaces of the main body member surrounding the aperture by hot plate welding.

The closure member may be separatefrom or formed as a part of the support element. A cover plate is preferably provided to cover the opening at the rear part of the main body member. This cover plate is advantageously detachably mounted on the main body member and to allow for this the cover plate may have a flexible lip which resiliently holds it in position by engagement around the edge of the opening. In a case where the closure member is separate from the support element, the cover plate may be provided as part of the support element so that upon removing the cover plate from the opening, the whole of the support element is removed from the main bodymember.

According to the invention also a method of making a mixer tap body from plastics or hot metal stamping techniques comprises moulding or hot stamping a main body member with two spaced-apart tail pipes and an outlet spout extending forwardly from a front part of the main body member, providing the spout with at least one fluid flow outlet passage for supplies of fluid received from the tail pipes, and providing a chamber fora support element for a plug actuating mechanism between a rear part of the main body member and the fluid flow passages, the chamber being provided with an opening to the outside of the main body member for the passage, therethrough of the support element.

Preferably according to the method, the opening is formed at the rear of the main body member and the opening, aperture and the outlet passage in the outlet spout are in alignment and the method comprises forming the passage in the outlet spout with a core which also forms the aperture and the opening, and withdrawing the core through the aperture and opening and from the main body member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view on the rear of a mixer tap body;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the assembly along line II-II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the assembly along line III--III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the assembly taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 1 and showing a support element and part of a plug actuating mechanism located in position in the body;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3 on a cross-section taken through part of a mould to show the method of DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED 1 EMBODIMENTS Asshown in the drawings, FIGS. 1 to 4, a mixer tap body 1 is made as an integral one-piece construction from plastics materials such as nylon, acetal resin, polycarbonates, polysulphone, polypropylene, polyphenolin oxide or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene. In this and later embodiments, an acetal resin is used for water mixer tap bodies but clearly for the mixing of other fluid supplies other plastics material may be chosen dependent upon its suitability for use for the particular fluid supplies and at the temperature of the fluids.

The assembly comprises a main body member 2 having two spaced-apart tail pipes 3 depending from a base 4 of the body, and an outlet spout 5 extending forwardly from a front part 6 of the main body member. The spout extends in substantially rectilinear fashion from the main body member and has two side-by-side fluid flow outlet passages 7 for hot and cold supplies of water (FIG. 3), these passages being separated by an internal partition 8 extending longitudinally of the spout. At the free and forward end of the spout two outlet holes 9 are provided, one for each outlet passage, each hole being directed downwardly from the spout.

The partition 8 extends beyond the fixed end of the spout and from the front towards the rear part of the main body member so as to provide two separate fluid flow passages 11 from the tail pipes to the outlet passages 7 in the spout. One only of the passages 11 is shown in FIG. 2 and 3 of the drawings. The partition does not extend completely across the body, as is clear from FIG. 2 and 3, but has a rear end 12 terminating between front and rear parts 6 and 13 of the body. Between the rear end 12 of the partition and the rear part of the body is provided a chamber 14 for receiving a support element for a plug actuating mechanism. This chamber'is interconnected by two apertures 15 with the passages 11 of the body. An opening 16 is provided at the rear of the main body member in alignment with the apertures and also in alignment with the outlet passages 7 of the spout to enable the support element to be passed through it and located in position within the chamber. Around the apertures 15 is provided a planar surface 17 directed towards the opening 16 of the chamber. The surface at the rear end 12 of the partition extends between the two apertures and lies in the same plane as the planar surface 17.

Because of design considerations as shown particularly inFIG. 2, the main body member projects forwardly as it extends upwards from the tail pipes and the geometry of the construction necessitates that the passages 11 in the body are arcuately formed between the tail pipes and the passages 7 in the spout so as to circumvent the chamber 14.

In the manufacture of the tap as shown in FIG. 5, a

mould comprises mould parts 18 which define the cavity for the outside shape of the body, mould cores 19 for the tail pipe passages and a single core 20 is used for moulding the two outlet passages 7 in the spout and the'chamber 14. As shown in FIG. 5, the core 20 comprises two cores parts 21, each of which defines a passage 7 and a main core part 22 which forms the chamber 14. The main part 22 has surfaces (not shown) for defining horizontal upper and lower parts of the surface 17 and a surface 22a for defining the surface at the rear end 12 of the partition 8. The main core part 22 also has surfaces 22b for forming the opening 16 of the chamber. A separate core 23 is used for moulding each of the passages 11. These passages 11 are curved as described above and are conveniently formed on arcs of circles so that for each connecting passage, the core 23 is of curved shape so that it may be withdrawn from the finished body through the chamber 14 by a pivotting action. As shown in FIG. 5, each core 23 is mounted upon the main core part 22 by means of a pin 24 which is spring loaded into a hole in the core part 22. This spring loading enables the cores 23 to be assembled to the core part 22 before moulding and allows for removal of the core part 22 after moulding while leaving the cores 23 in position. The cores 23 are then subsequently removed in the manner described above. The mould body is then removed from the main mould part 18 and additional mould cores 19, 25 and 26 which provide a gap 27 at the ends of the tap body are also removed. The mould cores 25 each have surfaces 25a and 25b which form vertical parts of the surface 17 and assist in forming the opening 16.

During the assembly of other tap parts to the body, the apertures 15 between the chamber 14 and connecting passages 11 are closed by the location upon the planar surface 17 and the surface at the rear end 12 of the partition of a plastics closure member 28a (FIG. 4) which is fluid-tightly secured in position by hot plate welding techniques. This closure member is part of a support element 28 of a complex actuating mechanism 29 which is as described in the specification of my copending British Pat. application No. 36508/ corresponding to US application Ser. No. 165,984 filed 26 July 1971. After this plug actuating mechanism is located in position within the chamber, a cover plate 30 is put across the opening 16 to close it. Obviously, this cover plate is preferably detachable from the body to enable the parts of the plug actuating mechanism to be replaced or repaired. Conveniently, therefore, the cover plate is formed with a flexible lip 31 around its periphery which is resiliently moved out of its position during location of the cover plate over the opening and re-assumes its normal position to hold the cover plate in the opening by gripping engagement of the lip around the edge of the opening. As described in U.S. application Ser. No. 165,984, a pivotally mounted operating lever 32 for the plug actuating mechanism projects through a slot 33 provided between the cover plate and the body to enAble the mechanism to be operated manually. A cable 34 is secured to the lever 32 and extends from the operating lever downwardly through a gap 35 in the base of the tap to move the plug in the manner described in U.S. application Ser. No. 165,984.

In the construction described in the first embodiment, because the chamber 14 is provided for the location therein of the support element and part of the plug actuating mechanism, difficulties which would be encountered with the provision of a hole extending through a partition rib for location of a conventional plug actuating mechanism are avoided. One further and very important advantage is that because the chamber 14 is fluid-tightly sealed from the water flow passages, then the part of the plug actuating mechanism within the tap body does not come into contact with water and no sealing difficulties are encountered in preventing the water from flowing around the support element and out from the back or from underneath the tap itself.

In the second and third embodiments now tobe described, the advantages obtained are the same as those mentioned for the first embodiment.

In a second embodiment shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a tap body 36 is of similar construction to that described in the first embodiment and like parts bear like reference numerals. The tap body of the second embodiment differs, however, from that in the first embodiment in that no partition rib 8 is provided along the outlet spout 5 so that a single outlet passage 37 extends along the outlet spout whereby hot and cold supplies of water are mixed together as they pass along the spout. Because there is no partition rib, then the two apertures now form a single aperture 38 (see FIG. 7) with a surrounding planar surface 17 for engagement by the closure member 28a of the support element as described in the first embodiment. In the construction described in the second embodiment, a single outlet orifice 39 is provided for the spout. The orifice 39 is circular and may be internally threaded for accepting an aerator (not shown) for aerating the water as it flows from the tap.

In a third embodiment as shown in FIG. 8, a tap body 40 is of the same construction as that described in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, however, the closure member over the apertures 15 is not part of the support element for the plug actuating mechanism as in the first embodiment. In contrast in this embodiment, the closure member is a separate plate .41 which is fluid-tightly secured in position by hot welding techniques, around the surface 17 and the rear end surface of the partition 12.

A support element 42 is provided having spaced apart webs 43 rotatably receiving the operating lever I 44 which projects through a slot 45 at the rear of the tap body. The operating cable 34 extends downwardly through a gap 35 as in the first embodiment. The support element 42 also comprises a cover plate 46 for the opening 16 at the rear of the body and the webs 43 are integrally formed with the cover plate from plastics material. The cover plate 46 is formed with a flexible lip 47 around its periphery by which the closure plate, and therefore, the support element 42 is detachably retained in position around the edge of the opening 16.

I claim: 1. A mixer tap body comprising a main body member, two spaced part tailpipes extending from the main body member and an outlet spout extending forwardly at a front part of the main body member, the main body member having a chamber at a rear part of the main body member, the chamber being isolated from fluid flow passages of the main body member to prevent fluid flow into the chamber, and the chamber containing at least one support element which pivotally carries an operating lever of a plug actuating mechanism, the chamber having an opening to the outside of the main body, said opening being sufficiently large to enable the support element to have been inserted into the chamber through the opening and the chamber having an aperture at ,a base of the main body member, the operating lever extending through a slot in the rear of the main body member, and the operating lever having a plug actuatingcable secured to it, said cable extending through the aperture at the base of the main body member and away from the body and avoiding the fluid flow passages.

2. A body according to claim 1 wherein the main body member is formed with at least one aperture between the fluid flow passages of the chamber and a closure member extends across and fluid-tightly seals the aperture.

3. A body according to claim- 2 wherein the main body member and closure member are both made from plastics material and the closure member is welded to a surface of the main body member surrounding the aperture by hot plate welding.

4. A body according to claim 2 wherein the closure member carries the support element.

5. A body according to claim 1 wherein the opening to the chamber is at the rear of themain body member and a cover plate closes the opening and defines the slot through which the operating lever extends.

6. A body according to claim 5 wherein the cover plate carries the support element and the cover plate is detachably mounted upon the main body member.

7. A body according to claim 1 wherein two support elements are provided in the form of spaced apart webs which rotatably carry the operating lever and the plug actuating cable. 

1. A mixer tap body comprising a main body member, two spaced apart tailpipes extending from the main body member and an outlet spout extending forwardly at a front part of the main body member, the main body member having a chamber at a rear part of the main body member, the chamber being isolated from fluid flow passages of the main body member to prevent fluid flow into the chamber, and the chamber containing at least one support element which pivotally carries an operating lever of a plug actuating mechanism, the chamber having an opening to the outside of the main body, said opening being sufficiently large to enable the support element to have been inserted into the chamber through the opening and the chamber having an aperture at a base of the main body member, the operating lever extending through a slot in the rear of the main body member, and the operating lever having a plug actuating cable secured to it, said cable extending through the aperture at the base of the main body member and away from the body and avoiding the fluid flow passages.
 2. A body according to claim 1 wherein the main body member is formed with at least one aperture between the fluid flow passages of the chamber and a closure member extends across and fluid-tightly seals the aperture.
 3. A body according to claim 2 wherein the main body member and closure member are both made from plastics material and the closure member is welded to a surface of the main body member surrounding the aperture by hot plate welding.
 4. A body according to claim 2 wherein the closure member carries the support element.
 5. A body according to claim 1 wherein the opening to the chamber is at the rear of the main body member and a cover plate closes the opening and defines the slot through which the operating lever extends.
 6. A body according to claim 5 wherein the cover plate carries the support element and the cover plate is detachably mounted upon the main body member.
 7. A body according to claim 1 wherein two support elements are provided in the form of spaced apart webs which rotatably carry the operating lever and the plug actuating cable. 